Children from Primary 6 and Primary 7 at Abbey Primary in Kilwinning have been busy painting and decorating little bird boxes as part of a sustainability challenge set by us to encourage more wildlife into private gardens.
As part of the project, our local sustainability champion, Joseph Green, visited Abbey Primary to explain more about the our local sustainability efforts, such as bee bricks, bird boxes, bug hotels and hedgehog highways at developments across the west of Scotland, including Willow Gardens in Kilwinning.
Joseph also chose his favourite three designs from the 58 bird boxes decorated by the children and based on their eye-catching designs the winners were also awarded with National Book Tokens. It’s hoped that the little bird boxes painted by the children in the challenge will find new homes in gardens across the local area.
We supplied Abbey Primary with all the materials needed for the project. Every child also received a copy of Taylor Wimpey’s Ecotastic Activity book, which is designed to help children learn fun facts about the environment while also discovering some interesting ways that Taylor Wimpey is making its new homes and developments more sustainable.
Our sustainability champion, Joseph Green, said: “We’re always looking for new and innovative ways to work with local communities near our developments, so we were delighted when teachers at Abbey Primary agreed to participate in our bird box painting competition. I understand the children enjoyed working on this project, and it was great to have the opportunity to visit them in class and to tell them all about our sustainability efforts across the west of Scotland.”
Kerry Blackwood, Class Teacher at Abbey Primary, added: “We were delighted to be asked to participate in Taylor Wimpey West Scotland’s bird box painting competition. The children had great fun creating the designs for and painting their bird boxes. “I am pleased this project has offered our children a variety of learning opportunities and experiences, including a great talk from Joseph at Taylor Wimpey who also gave the children an insight into the company’s sustainability efforts. “We were also delighted to be gifted with a nature pack from Taylor Wimpey West Scotland that we will use in our school garden – which is great news for our local wildlife.”

This year’s World Book Day celebrations marked the official opening of a new school library at Abbey Primary in Kilwinning, as well as a donation of £250 from our West Scotland business unit and the team from our local Willow Gardens development.
World Book Day aims to encourage children of all ages to enjoy and appreciate the pleasures of reading. Andrew Falconer, Principal Teacher at Abbey Primary, said: “World Book Day is a fantastic initiative which really encourages children to develop their reading. Thanks to Taylor Wimpey’s donation, we’ll be able to add some new books to our new school library and we can’t wait for our pupils to get stuck into some new stories.”

"We hope the pupils had a brilliant day reading, choosing their next story to enjoy or celebrating their favourite characters. And we also hope they will try some of the fun challenges in our Ecotastic Activity book, which is designed to help children find out fun facts about the environment, while also discovering some interesting ways that we are making our new homes and developments more sustainable too."
Audrey Ross, Sales and Marketing Director for Taylor Wimpey West Scotland